My mate rejected me. Bad move.

Chapter 20 - The Animal Within

I sat rocking back and forth, cradling Matt's head. The blood around me had long since gone cold, it dried cracking and flaking.
What was it he was trying to tell me? Something about his mother? I looked up and scanned the room looking for the beautiful women who had been lying helplessly in a coma only hours ago.

A rumble built in my chest as a snarl vibrated through my throat. Was this his mothers doing? Was... Was that even still his mother?
I rubbed my nose and got to my feet. I whispered a final goodbye to Matt and shifted, I howled, howled for everything I had, for everything he was, for every wolf in his pack that had been mercilessly slaughtered.
I howled for revenge.

As I howled something in me was changing, something I had locked very deep and forgotten about broke from his cage. The animal within me had emerged, and it was howling for blood.
My wolf began changing, growing larger, stronger, more vicious. My inner wolf was gone, and all that was in her place was bloodlust and anger.

I gave one final, blood curdling howl and shifted back. Everything I had been feeling, the emotions that overwhelmed me vanished. I was completely calm, serene.

I left the house sliding smoothly into my car starting the engine and peeling out of the driveway.
The drive home I didn't have music, I didn't need it.
Everything around me seemed like music, I resonated with the wind, the leaves, the sun setting over the tops of the trees was like heavens choir pouring it's voices over the earth.
The thrum of birds wings, and the sway of the grass like harps chiming in perfect sync.
The scent of pine and dirt filled my senses and everything seemed like it belonged.

I parked and Dan ran from the house his eyes frantic, his gaze rested on me and he exhaled his body that was as tense as the string of a bow relaxed and he chuckled.
"You." He said and I looked at him calmly. "Where have you been? We've all been terrified... Something... Something changed." He said touching his chest.

"Yes, I know. It was me." I explained walking past him into the house. Dan followed me his whole demeanor questioning and confused.
I stopped short making Dan run into me and stumble backward. "Matt's pack. They're all dead." I said and continued walking. At that point Dan stopped following me, giving me a moment alone.

I changed my clothes wanting out of the clothes soaked in blood. I picked my hair up into a messy bun walking into the hallway. I entered the living room waving Peter over.
The atmosphere in the room was thick with melancholy. "I'm going for a run, will you go over the estate books and make sure everything is in order for the elders?" I asked and he nodded.

"Yes, I've already begun. You go, take your time." He encouraged.

"Make sure Cole knows that I've gone out... Take care of everyone for awhile?" I asked Peter nodded once again and sat on the couch next to Iris where he already had the estate books open and sorted.
I left the house shifted, everything felt so vivid. I felt like it was my first time shifting times 10.
I raised my head as the sun that was hanging low in the sky slowly sunk behind the mountains leaving lucid darkness behind.

As the moon soared in the sky I howled once more, the sound that came from me was startled even myself. Peter ran to the door and as he saw me he fell to his knees with wonder.
I saw my reflection in the window and saw a wolf unlike anything I had ever seen! My size had tripled, my fur glistened, and power vibrated around me, my eyes clear and animalistic.

I nodded to Peter as I took a great, bounding leap. As my paws hit the ground I was at a full run. The ground flying beneath me. As I ran the trees swayed and the underbrush seemed to beckon me to their shadowy cover.
I felt so in tune with the earth it was frightening, but also exhilarating! As I came to the lake I slowly waded into the water that was glowing from the light of the moon. As the fur all the way to my chest became soaked I shifted the water enveloping my waist.
I looked around at the surface of the water and I saw Matt. I saw him in the rays of the moon to the ripples on the surface of the water.

They reminded me of his gentleness, of his cheerful caring nature. It reminded me of his stillness as he laid dying in my arms. I took a deep shaking breath and walked further into the water, the icy water feeling cool on my unnaturally warm skin.

When the water had risen just beneath my chest I dove into the calming depths, everything beneath the water used to be so dark and chilling. But now it glowed with moonlight, the life withing the lake moving in one synchronized serene song.
I glided through the water effortlessly spinning and twirling, the fish darting from here to there is schools.

Had life... Had the world around me always been this beautiful? Had I always just pitied myself and surrounded myself with people that made me feel better?
I broke the surface and Gravv stood before me, a gentle smile on his rugged face and a towel on his arm.

"What are you doing here?" I growled and he sat beside the water unphased by my aggression. He pat the sand beside him making me snarl.

"I wanted to see you." He said. His straight forwardness surprised me. oddly enough in a good sort of way, he knew what he wanted and he went for it. He didn't play mind games... Just torture and things of the such.

"You should leave, I have every reason at the moment to kill you." I said swimming towards him despite my words.
"I haven't had a very good day." I mumbled taking the towel from him. My clothes were beyond drying at this point but I used it to dry my face and hair.

"I know." Gravv said mysteriously making me raise an eyebrow at him. "I have information networks everywhere, I heard what happened to Matt's pack." I took another deep breath as he said that and glared at him.

"But I also come with grave information and an offer." He started. I opened my mouth to respond but the look he gave me made my words get caught in my throat. His eyes seemed to be saying 'Don't talk, just listen for now'
"Matt's mother died a long time ago. She was being kept alive by machines, When you touched her under the light of the moon a wall that was never supposed to fall shattered completely." He began, already I was so confused. Matt's mother isn't actually Matt's mother? Then what is she?!

"You are the moons chosen... It's blessing to our kind I suppose you could say. Within you the moon sealed the moon goddess. The first werewolf. She is tyrannical, evil, and older then we could possibly imagine. But not actually a goddess, that was a name she took up for herself when she ruled all the packs across the earth. That is when rogues were first established... We are the resistance" Everything he was saying was like a smack to the face, I said beside him because my legs didn't seem to want to hold me any longer.

"Now she is amassing her devout, and any that are weak enough to fall under her control. She's building an army... For what we don't yet know." Gravv said and as I looked at him I suddenly saw this wisdom I didn't think existed.

"If... If what you're telling me is true. If the rogues are the resistance then why do the rogues live like they do?" I asked. Gravv sighed and laid back on the sand.

"It started as just an act. Something to keep the devout from finding out our true mission. Somewhere along the line one of our Alpha's decided that Raina would never rise again. He took on the act as a way of life attracting all the scum of the earth. Over the past few weeks as I became Alpha I have banished the scum and gotten our original ranks back to the standards... Well as close as I can get them in that short of a time." He said. he took a deep breath and slid elegantly to his feet. He began pacing as if he were deep in thought.

"And comes the offer. As the moons blessing you have the most loyal, strong pack around you. That is the only chance any of us wolfs have left. I want to form an alliance with your pack until this threat to our kind is banished." Gravv said. I couldn't help it I began laughing like a maniac. Gravv looked surprised and slightly embarrassed, a slight red brushing along his cheeks.

After a minute I calmed down enough to talk. "I'm sorry." I said wiping a tear of laughter from under my eye. "Everything you have just told me is a huge shock. Then the thought of allying my pack with rogues. That was a funny thought." I told him. he started to speak but I raised my hand hushing him.

"I will think about everything you said, I will converse with my pack and let you know as soon as possible what our decision is." I told him. He nodded in understanding and we parted ways. Nothing else needing to be said. After all we talked of an alliance with rogues to kill the first werewolf... What could we have said?

I never would have given this even a thought. But for some reason... Everything he said seemed so right, there would be an alliance. An alliance creating a new pack... The pack of the moons blessing.